‘Don’t draw me into your education campaign’ – Prof Yankah to Mahama

The Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has advised former President John Mahama to desist from drawing him into his campaign on education.

According to him, any process to reform the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagship education programme, the free Senior High School (SHS) policy would compromise the gains made so far.

His comment comes on the back of statements made by Mr Mahama at a rally in Cape Coast that he would review the policy should he be elected president in 2020.

According to a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations of the Ministry of Education, Mr Ekow Vincent Assafuah, Mr Mahama, at the rally stated that the policy was ill-timed, and that problems facing the policy was due to lack of expert and stakeholder consultation.

According to the statement, Mr Mahama noted that when elected president in 2020, he would hold a national stakeholders conference where he would panel educationists such as Prof Yankah to deliberate on the policy.

The statement, however, indicated that Prof Yankah, as a Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, has been an integral part of the development of the free SHS programme, and that, “he is fully aligned with its direction under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”

“It should be noted that such stakeholder forums were held with the teacher unions, National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, GES Council, head of faith based organisations, all heads of SHS, Civil Society Organisations etc. They were invited to round table discussions and their views were solicited for the double track system,” the statement said.

“In the very unlikely event of the NDC coming into office in January 2021, Prof Yankah would therefore not be interested in being part of any process that seeks to compromise the gains achieved by the free SHS policy,” it added.